Whoa, I didn't know that, I didn't follow them so much back (never really followed the channel, but would watch here an there)I've followed BirdTricks since 2010 and to be quite straightforward, I've never found myself aligning with much of what they say. Their training DVDs back then were just the two guys chatting for most of the DVD, with very quick example of clicker training. Then, Jamie got 4 conure chicks that, from my conure experience, should have still been spending most of their time in the incubator... but no, they were photo ops all throughout the house. ...one died of a bacterial infection. they also would pose the conure babies on their cat which is just SO BAD TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO DO.... because even the best cats can turn on a bird in a split second. A slight nail scratch from the bird, and the cat could turn around and bite it before it even knew what it did. Even scratches can be deadly because of the pasteurella. I am not saying they were bad people, but they were making their buck, and I just don't think they were the Gods that many people believed them to be.
Before I had 2 most docile cats I ever had the chance to meet and have. One was afraid of my IRN and would immediately leave the room and do her stuff. My other older cat just didn't care at all. He was always on ignore mode. Both of the cats had 0 hunting needs - I swear they snuggled with my pet mice, and once when one mouse escaped, they didn't even flinch when it ran past them. Heck, the younger cat loved that mouse, I still have a video somewhere of them snuggling. They were cats on drugs, I swear. But I was extremely young and oblivious of many things, thank God never anything happened to my bird with the cats, no injuries, nor illnesses. Only cat I'd trust having in the same house with parrots is a ragdoll for sure. Who is tested for Toxoplasmosis. Rest - Naw, hard pass. Don't think I get to see same docile cats as I had.
To get to the point of my reply, Toxoplasmosis is something that scares me. Many cats carry it, and even owners are probably infected by it but inhibiting with absolutely no symptoms, ever (VERY rare cases people actually get sick from it) However, this parasite is very much deadly for the birds. The idea of toxoplasmosis is to infect the rodent to change the behaviour, so the rodent gets rid of the fear of the cats, and the cats can catch the mice/rats without issues. In birds however, it's often fatal. There was one scientific article, I cannot remember which parrot it was (I think an amazon??) who somehow got infected by it and later on died, this was confirmed during the autopsy. Also raptors (birds of prey) are very much so successible to it as well. Worst part, the cat doesn't even need to get close to the bird - it's enough just for a bad hygiene in the house for the owner and bird to catch it. Cats are only the carriers of the parasites, so they never inhibit any symptoms.
Here's some good scientific articles on the stuff whoever is interested in it! Be careful, it's written in "nerd" language, can be hard to read and understand.
A review of toxoplasmosis in wild birds - PubMed
Toxoplasma gondii affects most species of warm-blooded animals, including birds. There is considerable confusion regarding the identity of T. gondii-like parasites and the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in wild birds. In this review, T. gondii-like infections in different species of wild birds are...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Sorry for diverting the main topic :B Never hurts to learn something new!